I’ve worked with a great number of small businesses that I admire, both as social media consulting clients as well as potential customers. I am happy that I have helped several companies get to their next level with regards to their social media marketing, but I also find that many companies that seek my services are looking for social business expertise with a budget that does not place sufficient value on the experience they need. Social marketers have a complex yet unique combination of traits that make them true artists in their field. Are small businesses ready to appreciate the …
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Business blogs are becoming an increasingly common way to expand a company’s online presence. Six months ago I asked does your business blog? According to Hubspot, the number of companies that blog has risen 17% in the last two years to represent 65% of all businesses surveyed. That increase is not at all surprising to me. After all, as well as improving search engine rankings, blogs can be one of the most cost-effective marketing tools available to businesses. With so much competition online, they have become a powerful channel for both developing brands and generating sales. While blogs continue to …
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I am amazed by how many small businesses do not utilize social media to the maximum. Think about it: social media, like the internet two decades ago, allows any business to compete with larger, more established entities. Come on, what are you waiting for? What further amazes me is how few small businesses maximize their presence on LinkedIn and instead just follow the trend of Facebook and Twitter. Why would a niche B2B company establish a Facebook Fan Page when their potential customers may not be social on Facebook yet are already used to networking on LinkedIn? I’m confused. That’s …
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Every person reading this blog is now a participant in social media. After all, this is written by an individual, not broadcasted at you by a traditional media company, and thus is a true example of user generated content. As we become users of social media, whether through finding old friends on Facebook or connecting with new colleagues on LinkedIn, social media is slowly becoming part of our daily life. And if we have ever been in a job search, social media becomes increasingly important for us to utilize as part of both an online and offline networking strategy. Have …
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I recently did a Twitter Chat for #smbiz on tips for utilizing LinkedIn for small business. You can find out more about what we discussed here, but since then I have been contacted by small businesses looking for advice on how to utilize LinkedIn. I decided to answer this particular question on my blog because it did not come up on the chat. Furthermore, I have even had a member of my So Cal Sushi LinkedIn Group recently add a similar tip of this blog post to the Discussion Board there (which you can access if you are a member), …
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I had dinner last night with a publicly elected official from a large American city. I was impressed with his understanding of Social Media, and he had already created and implemented a strategy to utilize Facebook for political purposes. But what about LinkedIn? LinkedIn is still seen as being a boring, static medium when compared, as it often is, to Twitter and Facebook. This is because LinkedIn is pretty much a closed world, with only a few LinkedIn applications available that you can use to make your profile more interactive. What a lot of people are missing is the interactivity …
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